Everybody wins

Here’s a great story about why newspapers matter and how a mayor can solve a problem reporters bring to the public’s attention.

During the dark, rainy days of June, the Boston Globe spotlighted how the city was failing school sports programs. Shoddy playing fields, shabby equipment and a lack of resources added up to an embarrassment for Mayor Tom Menino.

The journalism was top notch—even for a paper which has endured a series of editorial staff cuts and buyouts. The death of newspapers is already old news. Decimated ad revenues and debt-ridden corporate owners have forced many newspapers to abandon real, investigative journalism. In its absence we look to citizen journalists and their blogs hopeful they will provide information newspapers can’t. But skeptics say the kind of investigative work that uncovers corruption and the highlights the failure of institutions we trust will be a victim of the reset in the newspaper industry.

The Globe’s series on the state of sports in city schools is one of those stories people appreciate. As a result of the series, Mayor Menino said “he would create a nonprofit charitable foundation spearheaded by former athletes and business leaders to transform the trouble sports system into a source of urban pride,” the paper reported Sunday (June 28, 2009). Menino told the Globe he “has received received a preliminary commitment from one Boston professional sports team to help launch the foundation and is optimistic others will join the effort.”

What a brilliant strategy; if there’s one thing Tom Menino has learned in his 16 years in City Hall, it’s how to use the power of public relations. Immediately the Mayor changed the conversation from “What can be done to fix the school sports programs?” to “How will the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics, the Bruins step up?”

Menino should be able to leverage the people and teams that have made Boston “Title Town USA”. He should also receive corporate support from Boston’s biggest corporations like State Street, Raytheon and Staples. And why not sign up to provide funding to improve sports fields, hire coaches and upgrade equipment? It’s a great way to support children and improve Boston’s reputation.

Good publicity awaits any and all comers which is why this strategy will probably succeed. Score one for the Globe and score one for Tom Menino.